Chris Mortensen Response

[Perfectionist]

I was watching Pardon the Interuption on ESPN this afternoon and was trying to keep from nodding off with little success. Toward the end of the show or the beginning of Sports Center, someone ask Chris Mortensen what is theory was on the Cardinals erradic play. He said that he had no theory and to expect the same from them. But then he made a comment that woke me up. He said that Coach Whisenhunt has proven that when the playoffs are here the Cards are ready and to expect that when the playoffs start this year Whis will have them ready again.

I sure hope that his analysis is right. Maybe that is who we really are, a team that struggles to stay focused during the regular season but a force in the post season.

Maybe that will help me stay a little calmer during the rest of this season.

 

[moklerman]

4-1 after the bye isn't exactly the definition of inconsistent. Sure, we put the Cardinals under the microscope week in and week out but the national media seems to focus much more on the negative than the positive.

 

[Buckybird]

Maybe that will help me stay a little calmer during the rest of this season.

I doubt it

This team is the reason I lose hair & more grey appears every Sunday

 

[Doug]

My hair is SNOW WHITE with a white beard.

 

[Carddan]

My hair is SNOW WHITE with a white beard.

I remember hair...

 

[Goldfield]

^^^ L.O.L

 

[Buckybird]

I remember hair...

good one Dan, im laughing my ass off

 

[lauraw]

Ive got plenty of hair, its just greyer and greyer..

 

[DeAnna]

I sure hope that his analysis is right. Maybe that is who we really are, a team that struggles to stay focused during the regular season but a force in the post season.

I think that's exactly right. They can't even stay focused for home games, but now are road warriors. Go figure.

 

[Brighteyes]

The difference to me is this team stays confident. No matter who the opponent, within the locker room they know they can do it. (Perhaps at times they are too confident?)

And frankly, the media has grown very lazy. If you can't do a win-every-game run, it confuses their brains. They really dislike us because we screw up their stats on picking Football games.

 

[Vermont Maverick]

I doubt it

This team is the reason I lose hair & more grey appears every Sunday

Actually, I hate to break this to you, but that is Father Time rearing his ugly head.

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[stewdog1]

Here's the amazing part:

He said that Coach Whisenhunt has proven that when the playoffs are here the Cards are ready and to expect that when the playoffs start this year Whis will have them ready again.

Only one year of the playoffs and Super Bowl and Whiz already has that reputation. It is so nice to see that menioned about a Cardinal team. My wish is 10 years from now it will be considered a major disappointment if we don't make the playoffs each season.

 

[slanidrac16]

The truth is we have become a WINNING team. As a head coach Whiz has a winning record. Narrowly missed the playoffs his first year, went to the prom his second year and this year he has us sitting at 5-3.

Now all we are going to hear about is the weak division we play in. Too bad. Seattle played in a week division this whole decade but eventually earned a reputation as a solid organization.

We might not be the best team in the NFL, but we certainly a team that EVERYBODY has to reckon with.

 

[splitsecond]

The playoffs are all that matters my friends. How many years have the Eagles dominated the regular season only to completely choke in the playoffs?

 

[40yearfan]

Ive got plenty of hair, its just greyer and greyer..

Don't worry about it Laura. We have to earn every one of those grey hairs and they are a sign of accomplishment.

 

[NeverSayDieFan]

Hey, Slan....

For 20 years I watched (painfully) as the Cards struggled in the NFC EAST. In ALL those years NOT ONE SINGLE FAN ever said to me, Hey, you guys should be PROUD! You play in the toughest division in football! So, the Cards are in the West. So, what?? They also beat a VERY GOOD Falcons' team; went on the road to Carolina who went undefeated during the regular season and WON; Then, beat the Eagles who a week earlier had knocked off the defending Super Bowl Champions. ..And then came with-in a couple minutes of downing the mighty Steelers!! "WEAK"?? Their whole arguement is what's "weak". GO CARDS!!

 

[40yearfan]

The truth is we have become a WINNING team. As a head coach Whiz has a winning record. Narrowly missed the playoffs his first year, went to the prom his second year and this year he has us sitting at 5-3.

Now all we are going to hear about is the weak division we play in. Too bad. Seattle played in a week division this whole decade but eventually earned a reputation as a solid organization.

We might not be the best team in the NFL, but we certainly a team that EVERYBODY has to reckon with.

They can say weak division all they want. The fact of the matter is that we have only played 2 divisional games to date and still have 4 left on the schedule. Four of our five wins have been against non-divisional teams. Anyone using that argument currently needs to do some serious research.

I read in an article this morning that Coach Whis is 25 and 19 since becoming coach. The last Cardinal coach to have that same record after 44 games was Don Coryell. The big difference being that Coryell teams never won a playoff game. We are in new territory. Viva la difference!!!

 

[Perfectionist]

We are in new territory. Viva la difference!!!

A poster actually older than me. You know how I caught that 40yearfan? Your misspelling of Viva Viagra!!

Here's to those that need a pill for pain and a pain for a pill.

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[Mainstreet]

I liken the Cardinals to a finely tuned sports car. When they play well they are hitting on all cylinders. When they are not, they do not look good. However, I'm hoping the Cardinals' emerging running game and their defense will make them more consistent.

 

[Cardiac]

I liken the Cardinals to a finely tuned sports car. When they play well they are hitting on all cylinders. When they are not, they do not look good. However, I'm hoping the Cardinals' emerging running game and their defense will make them more consistent.

I was going to post this thought but couldn't spell ferrari or lambragini.

 

[JeffGollin]

There's Always One Indeevidual...

I have to respectfully disagree with those who say that the Cards' inconsistency is purely something made up by a lazy media.

Our losses were to SF (Opening game), the blowout by Indy (after we took apart Jacksonville) and a wipeout by Carolina (after we beat Houston, Seattle and the Giants).

There were also a couple of games where we played like world champs in the first half but looked like the team who got murdered by the Colts and Panthers in all or part of the second half.

That is not the soul of consistency.

I'll concede that - with success (in the form of a Super Bowl appearance) - comes a higher-standard insisted-on by the fans; and that perhaps that's unfair.

But deep down, I feel that if there is any single factor that might keep us out of the Super Bowl or the SB championship, it will be our inability to play outstanding football for an entire 60 minutes of every game we play. (We may get close again, but I think we'll need to be at that consistently high caliber of play that we've seen in past versions of the Patriots, Steelers and Colts - if we're to get over the final hump).

I realize that "being perfect all the time" is probably impossible and that a team can make a few mistakes and still luck into being World Champs. But if every Cardinal player doesn't aspire to be the very best (for example, the way Fitz goes about his business all the time), we won't be playing at a high enough level for luck to nudge us over the top.

PS One thing about not having hair is that it's impossible to have a bad hair day (because every day is a "no hair day").

 

[Lorenzo]

I liken the Cardinals to a finely tuned sports car. When they play well they are hitting on all cylinders. When they are not, they do not look good. However, I'm hoping the Cardinals' emerging running game and their defense will make them more consistent.

yeah I do think the one element that is missing for the cards is the run game. with a quality run game you can elimintate the type of showing against the panthers.

As a cowboys fan I have often witnessed the same type of showing in games where they just put it in the air on every play and completely abandon the run. it's not good for your QB or your whole team in all phases to abandon the run...especially in that type of game where your QB is getting killed. it's good to see dallas run the ball so far this year. and I think the cards need to get in that mold. I know coach whiz certainly wants to do it, but he also wants to play to the strength of the players that he has. so it is a fine line.

 

[Brighteyes]

I have to respectfully disagree with those who say that the Cards' inconsistency is purely something made up by a lazy media.

Our losses were to SF (Opening game), the blowout by Indy (after we took apart Jacksonville) and a wipeout by Carolina (after we beat Houston, Seattle and the Giants).

There were also a couple of games where we played like world champs in the first half but looked like the team who got murdered by the Colts and Panthers in all or part of the second half.

That is not the soul of consistency.

I'll concede that - with success (in the form of a Super Bowl appearance) - comes a higher-standard insisted-on by the fans; and that perhaps that's unfair.

But deep down, I feel that if there is any single factor that might keep us out of the Super Bowl or the SB championship, it will be our inability to play outstanding football for an entire 60 minutes of every game we play. (We may get close again, but I think we'll need to be at that consistently high caliber of play that we've seen in past versions of the Patriots, Steelers and Colts - if we're to get over the final hump).

I realize that "being perfect all the time" is probably impossible and that a team can make a few mistakes and still luck into being World Champs. But if every Cardinal player doesn't aspire to be the very best (for example, the way Fitz goes about his business all the time), we won't be playing at a high enough level for luck to nudge us over the top.

PS One thing about not having hair is that it's impossible to have a bad hair day (because every day is a "no hair day").

If that was at me -- I didn't mean to say the Cardinals are NOT inconsistent. Anyone looking at our home record would have to say we're inconsistent.

But I do think that having lost only one game out of the 5 since our bye is cause for excitement. I really expected this team to be right around the 5 - 3 record right now, and I'm happy with it. It's just that the teams we've lost to are not the teams I THOUGHT we'd lose to (except for Indy).

I stand by my 'some media guys are lazy' comment, however. For example, Peter King can't stand us -- and if you check his picks, you'll see almost every time he goes with the standard favorites. There's never a thought applied to any aspect of any game -- just the same picks my grandmother would make.

 

[MrYeahBut]

just the same picks my grandmother would make.

Why would you insult your grandmother by comparing her to Peter King

 

[JeffGollin]

If that was at me -- I didn't mean to say the Cardinals are NOT inconsistent....I stand by my 'some media guys are lazy' comment....

T'warn't you, Brighteyes (in my eyes you can do no wrong). It was the general tone of the early posts on the thread. (Incidently, Coach Wiz in his day-after presser mentioned inconsistency as a prime concern.

I also agree with you about some media guys being lazy - just not this one time. My pet peeve is that, when someone in the media is criticizing the Cardinals based on something that may have been doing 2 or 3 years ago (but has since been corrected), that's just lazy, sloppy, misleading journalism.

That plus falling back on Brett Favre stories when they can't think of anything else to talk about or write about. (I cannot tell you how many times I've fast-forwarded thru Total Access or NFL Live until the green and yellow blur on my tv screen goes away).